


Ace's High

by AlexIsOkay



Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/F, Substance Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-27 08:08:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16698646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexIsOkay/pseuds/AlexIsOkay
Summary: Too many pills and too much booze leave Sae Niijima in the perfect condition for a visit from the woman in the mirror.





	Ace's High

The basement was loud, dimly lit, crowded, filled with a thick haze of cigarette smoke and the overpowering scent of alcohol. It was already a hard place to take in and navigate under normal circumstances. In Sae Niijima’s current condition, it was even harder.

The woman stumbled across the room, narrowly avoiding collisions at each turn as she haphazardly made her way towards her destination. Around her, tables full of noisy patrons slapped down cards, rolled dice, erupted into cheers or angry shouting when they saw the results. Somewhere a chair was knocked over, somewhere a glass was broken. Sae was fairly certain she had nothing to do with either of those occurrences,  but she couldn’t say for sure.

She finally made it to the other end of the room, practically falling forward against the bathroom door as she reached down and fumbled for the knob. She was thankful to have something to support her weight for a few moments, until she was finally able to wrestle it open and go tumbling into the bathroom itself, just barely managing to catch herself on the edge of the counter before she fell completely. As Sae caught her balance the door swung shut behind her, and suddenly the noises coming from outside became distant, muffled. Almost quiet enough for her to block them out entirely. Suddenly Sae was alone in that bathroom, staring down at the blank white countertop and the grimy tile floor, illuminated by the harsh, flickering green glow of a fluorescent on its last legs.

For a moment Sae simply stood there, trying to catch her breath, looking down at her shaking hands as they clutched to the edge of the counter. She felt cold, but she also felt like she was sweating. Her chest felt tight. Her stomach felt sick, but she didn’t want to throw up. As she wrestled with her poor condition Sae lifted her eyes, looking at the grimy, scratched up, filth covered mirror in front of her. She saw a woman in the reflection, but it wasn’t her. Not exactly, anyway.

“You seem like you’ve had a tough night,” the woman said. It was Sae’s own voice, but there was something wrong about it. It was taunting, condescending, entirely too malicious and irreverent. A tone Sae would never take herself. A smirk spread over the woman’s black painted lips, and there was a glint of malice in her unsettling golden eyes, framed by dark eyeliner. “Have the cards not been turning up in your favor?”

“Shut up,” Sae hissed back, gritting her teeth together as she spat the words out. “I don’t have time to deal with you right now.”

“No, I suppose you probably don’t,” the woman agreed. “By my estimate you have about three minutes before you end up collapsing onto that disgusting floor. This is a lovely establishment you’ve found yourself in this time, by the way. Truly top notch.”

“Then why are you here?” Sae demanded.

“Why?” the woman repeated. “I think you’re in a better position to answer that than I am. Why  _ are  _ we standing in what appears to be a crack den bathroom, trying to hold down a mixture of top shelf ketamine and bottom shelf liquor?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sae growled.

“Don’t I?” the woman asked. “I think I know better than anyone else. After all,” she said, leaning closer to the glass from the other side of the mirror as a delightfully sadistic smile stretched wider over her face. “I’m as much you as you are.”

“You’re not,” Sae muttered, but her words were met with immediate laughter.

“I’m not?” the woman asked. “Are we really doing this again right now?”

“I told you, I don’t have time for this.”

“And where are you in such a hurry to get off to? Nobody else is going to stay by your side while you black out on a bathroom floor. I would have thought you would have welcomed my company.”

“Shut up,” Sae spat.

“How can I shut up when I’m not saying anything?” the woman asked. “You have to understand that by now, right?”

“I said shut up.”

“Just imagine how insane you must look, hunched over the counter, staring into the bathroom mirror, talking to yourself like this.”

“Shut up!”

“Raising your voice? Yelling at me? What do you actually think this will accomplish? What are you trying to-?”

“SHUT UP!” Sae finally snapped. She didn’t even have time to think before her fist flew forward, smashing into the large sheet of glass in front of her. She watched it shatter, watched reflective shards rain down onto the countertop below, and then she watched red start to drip down from her knuckles, bleeding from where the jagged edges had cut her. It didn’t hurt, though. She barely felt anything at all. And she barely heard anything either. The woman in the mirror had vanished, and Sae was left alone again, with only the sound of her own heavy panting to keep her company. Until she heard another voice coming from the door.

“Sae?” She immediately craned her neck around to look towards the noise, and she saw another woman standing there in the doorway, staring back at her. She was shorter than Sae, with dark clothing, and deep blue hair cut short around the sides of her face. She looked worried. Sae wasn’t used to seeing her look worried about anything.

“Tae-chan,” she replied, half muttering the words in a frantic, disoriented stupor. “Those pills you gave me. What was in them?”

“Did you mix them with alcohol?” Tae asked, walking further into the room until she was standing beside Sae. Sae could see the doctor’s eyes move down to her lacerated knuckles, but neither of them said anything about it. “I told you not to do that.”

“It was only a bit-”

“A bit is a bit too much,” Tae interrupted. She walked over to the paper towel dispenser, yanking a whole wad out before turning back and holding them out to Sae. “Cover your hand,” she said. “I’ll treat it properly once we get you back home.”

“I don’t need to go home. I’m-”

“That’s funny. I don’t recall giving you a choice.” The two women stared at each other in silence for a few seconds after that, but Tae’s expression was firm, unwavering. Sae knew when she couldn’t be reasoned with, and eventually just let out a long sigh.

“Fine,” she said. “Just… Get me out of here.”

“I will,” Tae reassured her. She extended an arm and, after looking at it for a moment, Sae ended up taking it, realizing the walk back was going to be difficult on her own. Tae didn’t say anything else as she turned back towards the door. She simply started to exit back out of the bathroom, leaving the shattered mirror and the blood droplets on the counter behind, and letting Sae lean up against her for support as they went.


End file.
